Goodbye 2015, Helloooo 2016!

2015 was a pretty good year

While I didn’t accomplish all of my writing goals, I did manage to publish two books that I’m very proud of: “Monster Girl: Ghost in the Attic” and “Zombie Boy: Press Start“. I also wrote the vomit draft of my first horror book as well as several short stories, all of which will be published at a future time. I was hoping this year would be a good time to bring my books to the audio world, but it’s something I decided to put off a tad longer.

One big goal that I hoped to accomplish this year just recently happened. ALL of my books are now available at all the major online retailers: iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and, of course, Amazon. I’m in this for the long haul, and going wide to all the other stores just seemed like a no-brainier.

It was also a good year for me personally due to all the hiking my husband and I were able to do. And also for the two hiking-and-gaming-filled visits by my best friend and her husband. Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad, and 2015 also brought me both home and auto repairs to deal with. Bleh. However, I am very blessed with what I have!

My focus for 2016

Book sales are still low, which is to be expected. Readers don’t read my books if they don’t know they exist. So, 2016 is the year of promotion and more writing. Writing needs no explanation. I’m a writer, therefore I write. However, I can’t efficiently promote unless I have a decent number of reviews. I’m working on a plan that I can implement hopefully in the first quarter of the new year that will net me more reviews, and thus allow me to promote more. I’m sure readers hear/read it all the time, but it’s true. Reviews are so very important to indie authors like myself. Think about it. When you’re browsing an online store for a product, you check out the reviews, right? I know I do. I want to get a general feel for what other users think of said product. Does it perform as advertised? Is it a good value? Has it held up over time?

Books are no different. We buy them based on what our peers say about them. I’m gonna toot my own horn here for just a second. Knowing how important reviews are, I try to return the favor as often as I can. Granted, life is hectic and I don’t always remember to do it, but I do practice what I preach and write reviews for some of the books I read. (I mainly review on Amazon and Goodreads since the Kindle has been my preferred reading platform for a while now.)

And speaking of reviews…. One thing I would like to do more of in 2016 is read more fiction! I read a crapTON (yes, that’s a word) of non-fiction. I’d like to make a concerted effort to read even more indie fiction this next year, especially in the horror and thriller genres. With that will come more reviews, too!

See how I brought that back around? I firmly believe ya get what ya give.

Stay tuned for books 2 and 3 in the “Adventures of Zombie Boy” series! Be sure to check out book 1, “Zombie Boy: Press Start” available NOW!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Val O. Morris likes to pretend the monsters aren’t real. She is a filmmaker turned author who writes Urban Fantasy, Horror, and YA. A Monster Kid since birth, she loves all things ghosts, goblins, slashers, demons, monsters, zombies, madmen, werewolves, vampires, and freaky little kids who live in the corn. She invites you to come for the monsters and stay for the story.